Our Town PAM WASSERSTEIN

Over the past year, this column has guided you through the exciting and intimidating world of student life at the big H. Sadly, it's come to an end. That's right: the last Our Town. OK, stop crying. We have explored the worlds of art, drama, music, activism, housing, food, sports, fire doors, key cards and "dropping the H-bomb." Now that reading period has arrived, the final column will venture into the dark underbelly of student life, the world the administration ignores in its press releases.

The world of the Harvard procrastinator.

There are students at Harvard who are unequivocally Good Workers (GWs), steadfast and true. They are the ones sighted racing through the dining halls at mealtime, glancing at their watches as they wolf down food on schedule and hurrying back to their books and computers. They are the ones the College wants you to see.

The procrastinator is the antithesis of the GW.

Her sensitivity to disturbing GW behavior peaks at exam time, when the workers are at their most visible in the dining halls, libraries and dorm windows with noses pressed to computer screens. The procrastinator watches them jealously from her window, taking a break between rounds of computer Solitaire.

As the GWs pound relentlessly at their laptops, the procrastinator stares into space, calls up forgotten friends, performs elaborate and time-con-suming rituals such as nail-polish application, and stays at dinner from 5:30 p.m. until removal by the dining hall staff.

Exam period holds a special challenge for a procrastinator. There are fewer people to go to Tommy's with three times a night, and the guilty conscience--an unfortunate by-product of procrastination--rears its ugly head.

However, the procrastinator can take the crunch-time of exams as a blessing in disguise and amend her behavior to minimize procrastination and hit that unopened Core textbook. It will be difficult; old habits (especially ones with the short-term thrill that procrastination possesses) die hard. But if sufficiently motivated, the procrastinator can suck it up and take the plunge this reading period (all those exams and papers will drive an unproductive soul to desperate measures) and go up against the mother of GW haunts: Cabot library.

There the procrastinator will hopefully discover a significant productivity boost as a result of the new location. Oh, sure, the first floor is intimidating--study groups convene quietly, people sleep in armchairs. But descending down to the basement, the procrastinator just might find an ideal study environment--one where possible distraction is strictly minimal.

Cabot's basement is not exactly the most aesthetically pleasing study venue that Harvard has to offer, which is exactly why it fits the needs of the procrastinator. No fun and exciting decorations to look at. Visual distraction is eliminated by mini- malism. Avoid the comfy couches and chairs near the basement entrance: if any procrastinator sits here, she becomes the basement's welcoming committee for any and all remote acquaintances. In addition, these comfortable furnishings are more conductive to sleep than study.

Instead, the procrastinator should obtain a study carrel. This working space is popular during exam period, but usually there are a few empty stalls. If these are filled by fellow motivated procrastinators, she should not despair, and instead move into an unoccupied audio-visual room. No one distracting there.

In the neglected world of the Harvard procrastinator, exam period provokes a type of panic unknown to other students. Sure, the procrastinator may incite envy as she traipses around campus, seemingly oblivious to the stress of the season. But she knows that papers must get written, exams must be taken, doom is at hand. At that moment, the procrastinator becomes insanely jealous of the GW's security in a self-disciplined ability to make a study schedule and stick to it in a timely manner. It's so easy for a GW, she thinks.

This procrastinator may never attain the level of effortless diligence displayed by the GW. She may not even want to. However, exams are a time when this ignored element of the student population must effect a degree of transformation. So, GWs (you might never admit it, but you know who you are) who might catch a glimpse of a procrastinator making a worthy attempt at academic diligence--please, make no study break suggestions. Do not ask the procrastinator for notes, opinions, time or attention. In fact, just walk past and leave her to her books. After all, the procrastinator needs support during the difficult transition to Good Worker

Instead, the procrastinator should obtain a study carrel. This working space is popular during exam period, but usually there are a few empty stalls. If these are filled by fellow motivated procrastinators, she should not despair, and instead move into an unoccupied audio-visual room. No one distracting there.

In the neglected world of the Harvard procrastinator, exam period provokes a type of panic unknown to other students. Sure, the procrastinator may incite envy as she traipses around campus, seemingly oblivious to the stress of the season. But she knows that papers must get written, exams must be taken, doom is at hand. At that moment, the procrastinator becomes insanely jealous of the GW's security in a self-disciplined ability to make a study schedule and stick to it in a timely manner. It's so easy for a GW, she thinks.

This procrastinator may never attain the level of effortless diligence displayed by the GW. She may not even want to. However, exams are a time when this ignored element of the student population must effect a degree of transformation. So, GWs (you might never admit it, but you know who you are) who might catch a glimpse of a procrastinator making a worthy attempt at academic diligence--please, make no study break suggestions. Do not ask the procrastinator for notes, opinions, time or attention. In fact, just walk past and leave her to her books. After all, the procrastinator needs support during the difficult transition to Good Worker